U.S. asks Supreme Court to take up Microsoft fight over email privacy

The U.S. Justice Department wants the Supreme Court to take up a years-long court fight with Microsoft.

The case tests the reach of government warrants for private emails.

At issue is a 2016 court ruling that determined that Microsoft didn't have to hand over customer data that was stored on computers in another country.

On Friday, the Justice Department filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to review the lower court opinion, insisting the Second Circuit federal appeals court had "seriously misinterpreted" the law.

The Justice Department argues that it should not matter where the information is stored -- if it can be accessed "domestically with the click of a computer mouse," the DOJ wrote in its petition.

But Microsoft handed over only some "non-content" information -- which could be anything ranging from customer names to email addresses -- stored on Microsoft servers in the U.S. And the company refused to hand over the content of the emails, which were stored in Ireland.

American law enforcement has the ability to access data abroad through "mutual legal assistance requests" to foreign governments. But investigators argue these diplomatic deals slow probes -- and force the U.S. to rely on the other governments' willingness to help.

The first ruling in the case came from a federal judge in New York who sided with the government.